Veerapandiyan Kattabomman, Freedom Fighter in Tamil Nadu, 18th Century
Chapter - 14 of Chanakya's Treatise on Policies for Kings & Ministers
 

Translation:
Food grains, water, and good words are the three jewels on the earth. Fools have given pieces of stones the name of jewels.

Translation:
The sins done by a person are like a tree. The fruits of this tree are poverty, disease, unhappiness, bondage, and bad habits.

Commentary:
[We should not sin but always do good deeds. Sinful acts result in unhappiness.]

Translation:
One can get wealth again, friends again, wife again, land again. All these can be obtained again after losing them but human body can not be obtained back again after losing it.

Translation:
Many united, even if weak and small, win over an enemy; just as pouring rain is stopped by the small pieces of straw which together make roof of a thatched hut.

Commentary:
[Unity has strength. Howsoever strong an enemy may be, several small or weak persons facing him can defeat him, if they are united.]

Translation:
Even if little, these have the power of spreading on their own: oil over water, a secret told to a villain, donation given to the deserving person, and knowledge imparted to a learned person.

Commentary:
[Impart knowledge and give donations to the right persons. Both will increase it manifolds.]

Translation:
If the mental state that results after listening to a religious discourse, after returning from the cremation ground, & after seeing sick person; remains permanently then who will not be free from cycle of re-birth?

Commentary:
[Religious discourse produces a feeling of devotion to God, going through a cremation or funeral produces a feeling of detachment from the world, seeing a sick person produces the feeling that one should live a pure & simple life. However, these feelings are momentary and do not have permanence. So always consciously recall these feelings and truths of life and act accordingly.]

Translation:
If the kind of wisdom that emerges when repenting a mistake that was committed, existed before committing the mistake, then no gentleman will have to repent.

Commentary:
[The mind becomes clear after a mistake. To get that clarity before hand, think ahead and then alone act].

Translation:
Do not consider yourself as someone wonderful & having no equals in giving donations, penance, valor, learning, courtesy, and knowledge of ethics; because the earth has many jewels in these.

Commentary:
[Do not be proud about your good qualities. Someone greater than you can always be found on earth. Pride can make one slide down or even sink you.]

Translation:
The person who resides in your heart is not far even though physically situated at a distance. The person who does not reside in your heart is distant even though physically situated near.

Commentary:
[Closeness & nearness depends on the heart and not physical distance.]

Translation:
Always speak sweetly to the person from whom you want something dear to you; just as the hunter goes singing songs in sweet voice when hunting for the deer.

Commentary:
[Chanakya has included here unconventional but practical advice. There is no harm in winning people using sweet speech or flattery. Why be poor in words?]

Translation:
Keep a moderate distance from the king, fire, guru (teacher), and woman; because on being too close they destroy and on being too far they do not give any benefit.

Translation:
Persons belonging to higher castes see god in the fire, wise see god in their heart, those with very little wisdom see god in the idol, objective people see god every where.

Translation:
One who has good qualities is alive, one who is religious is alive. Living without good qualities and religion is purposeless.

Commentary:
[A man without good qualities and religion is like a dead person.]

Translation:
If you want to subjugate the world with one action alone, then stop the tongue from speaking the volumes of ills of others.

Commentary:
[This is good and needs repeating. Do not speak ill about anybody with your tongue. This is the single most important thing you can do to win the world.]

Translation:
One who knows to speak according to context, to be agreeable according to influence of the person who is listening, to show anger according to one's own strength; is a wise person.

Translation:
There is one single thing but there are three different ways of seeing it. Lustful man sees a woman's body as attractive, yogi sees it as foul smelling dead body, and dog sees it as meat.

Commentary:
[Different people have different perspectives and perceive the same thing differently according to their individual perspectives. Lustful man sees a woman as attractive and wants to enjoy her, the yogi sees her something very impure and wants to always keep a distance from her, and a dog sees her as dead meat and wants to eat her.]

Translation:
Wise people do not tell others about well proven medicine, one's own religious actions, weakness in one's own home, sexual intercourse, incorrect things they have eaten, a bad thing they have heard.

Commentary:
[Use of medicine to help others was approved but it was believed that by disclosing its composition or source, the effect of the medicine disappeared. Modern medicine also knows about placebo effect of medicines. All homes have weaknesses and disclosing them is foolishness since it brings disrepute to the family. Sexual intercourse is done in privacy and telling about it is uncivilized.Having eaten a prohibited thing like dog's meat, one should not tell. After hearing a bad thing, one should not spread it.]

Translation:
The cuckoo spends its days remaining silent up to the spring season that is till the voice which gives pleasure to people does not initiate from its throat.

Commentary:
[Whenever you speak, speak sweetly. It is better to remain silent than speak harshly.]

Translation:
Accumulate virtuous actions, and wealth, and food grains, and teachings of the guru, and medicines; or else you will not be able to stay alive.

Commentary:
[These are essentials for living securely and happily.]

Translation:
Leave the company of criminal people, pray for the company of good people, day & night do good deeds, and remember God everyday.

Commentary:
[These are the basic constituents of every religion or faith. They can be considered as a universal religion.]

Sariska Palace, Rajasthan

References


[1] Chanakya Neeti, Ashwini Parashar, New Delhi, 1998.
[2] Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, R.S. McGregor (Edited), New Delhi, 1999.
[3] Bhargava's Concise Dictionary of the English Language (Anglo-Hindi Edition), R. C. Pathak (Edited), Varanasi, 1995